Prep Soccer: Freeport holds off Belvidere

FREEPORT — Having played in its share of close matches this season and lost, the last thing Freeport wanted was to see another opportunity for a victory slip away.

The Pretzels (6-9-1, 3-4) missed plenty of scoring chances and dodged a few bullets from Belvidere in Tuesday’s NIC-10 soccer dual, but Freeport scored the only goal of the match to come away with a 1-0 victory at the Pretzel Bowl.

“We’re happy with the win definitely but we should have had some more goals and part of that was I should have finished some more, but it was a team effort,” Freeport senior co-captain Adam Winters said.

After being out-shot and out-chanced in the first half, Belvidere turned up the intensity a notch offensively in the second half and put some added pressure on the Freeport defense. But the Pretzels were the first to find the net as junior Dante Euell’s goal at the 21-minute mark of the second half put Freeport ahead with what proved to be the game-winner. The goal didn’t stop the Bucs from attacking, however, as they continued to make Freeport’s defense work to stay in front.

“We still gave Belvidere opportunities to score after that and that was frustrating,” Freeport coach Nick Namio said. “We’ve got to do a better job of finishing teams off if we’re going to advance in the playoffs.”

Belvidere’s best chance at a goal came with the match still scoreless less than 10 minutes into the second half. A shot that hit off the post deflected right to a Belvidere attacker who had a clear shot on goal, but the kick off of the rebound sailed wide right.